Houston developer creating carbon-neutral office building

Hines is developing this 415,000-square-foot net-zero energy building called La Jolla Commons.

This 13-story building, under construction in San Diego, will be the largest carbon-neutral office building ever built in the United States, according to Hines, the Houston-based firm developing the project with J.P. Morgan Asset Management.

The building and its future tenant, LPL Financial, are expected to produce more energy than what is used on an annual basis through a combination of “high-performance building design, directed biogas and on-site fuel cells,” Hines said.

A press release describes the process:

The building design incorporates a highly efficient under-floor air system, advanced curtain wall materials and many other features that reduce the energy required to operate the building. The fuel cells, acquired from Bloom Energy, will generate approximately 5.0 million KWh of electricity annually, which is above what the building will consume.

Total on-site energy production will be roughly equivalent to generating the electricity required to power 1,000 San Diego homes. The fuel cells convert methane into electricity in a non-combustion process.

Sufficient methane for the system will be acquired from carbon-neutral sources, such as landfills and wastewater plants, and placed into the national natural gas pipeline system. This system will contribute to California’s ambitious goal of deriving a third of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020.